Road to Babylon - Zero Division Battle Report #02

Second match done today, again at our Base of Operation of sorts, Neutral Grounds Cash & Carry in Makati. Another Axis player, this time it's no other than Jojo Francisco. He's one of the first players of Dust Tactics in the community. In fact he won the first tournament we held here in the country.


Here's the list he's fielding for this campaign:

Jojo, Axis
Army Name: Kalte Bliss
Heavy Grenadier Platoon
Lara (Commander) – 18
The Panzers – 11
Flak Boys - 12
Sturmkonnig - 22

The Iron Fist – 16
The Ghosts – 9
The Ghosts – 9
Heinrich – 8
Heinrich – 8
Ludwig – 12
TOTAL: 125 AP

I ended up as the Attacker for this match. This is what we came up with for our scenario using the campaign's Battle Builder:

Objective: 0, Something for Nothing
Deployment: 3, Defender Delayed Reserve
Condition: 1, Perfect Day

Me and Jojo reading up on the Battle Builder shenanigans

Looking at Jojo's list, I wanted get something out of the Battle Builder that can work to my advantage. At first, I was banking to put all my Scenario Points on Condition to neutralize his army's long reach. Looking back at my yesterday's experience, I instead opted to take my chances on Deployment and get him to Defender Delayed Reserve. That way, his full force will not be readily present on the table, buying me needed time to focus fire on whatever threats will be left.

As expected, Jojo decided to deploy all his walkers and Reserve the soldiers except for 1 Flak Boys. I deployed my entire Heavy Destroyer Walker platoon behind a tenement to avoid alpha strike from the Sturmkonnig.

Jojo's deployment

My double Six Shooters turtling behind a building

Turn 1

I won initiative.

The scenario dictates that I become the aggressor for this match and that's what I did. I managed to deploy most of my Reserved units, with only a couple of Light Walkers failing to get an activation upon entry. I was able to net my first Kill Points from the unsuspecting Heinrich stationed behind a tenement to my northeastern corner of the board, but my Six Shooter was eliminated as well by the dreaded Sturmkonnig. My Paratroopers squad was also able to take down the opposing medium walker. But not before the Ludwig took out another squad of Red Devils before.

Our table by end of the 1st round.

Turn 2

Again, initiative went to my favor. My surviving Red Devils immediately set their Phaser weapons towards Sturmkonnig and dealt it some damage, but not enough to bring it down. It retaliated against my 2nd Six Shooter and one of my Blackhawks but only managed to dent the light walker.

Jojo was able to call his Iron Fist from the Delayed Reserve. My Wildfire neutralized a squad of Flak Boys storming out of their cover, thanks to its Superior Reactive Fire scoring a Sustained Attack.

By end of this round, I'm still holding on to both Objectives and is already halfway through my needed Kill Points.


Turn 3

Luck still smiled at me when we rolled for Initiative this turn. Without further hesitation, I ordered my lurking Blackhawk to Sustain Fire at the huge Axis walker in front of it. It was successful, netting me a huge chunk off my objective.

Jojo ordered his Old Fist to call for a reinforcement vehicle. To my surprise, he chose to call for a Ludwig instead of its heavier counterpart that I just took down. It wrecked havoc nonetheless, decimating one of my Blackhawks. He was also able to call in most of his Reserved units except for a single Panzers squad, including his Commander, Lara.

Lara's deployment was a miscalculation on my end, and I paid hard for it. I've been meaning to move Action Jackson to safety with his special ability but decided to activate other units first. Lara showered my Commander with lead, killing the poor British officer.

I was able to call in Replacement Vehicle as well and without thinking twice, Salvoed on Lara and The Ghosts. A lucky Axis grenadier survived though and decided to take control of the Objective marker previously contested by the fallen British Paratroopers.

Turn 4

I won the Initiative roll yet again. I tried to take out what remains of Jojo's Iron Fist but being tucked inside the safety of a building more than helped it survive all my efforts.

After all the crossfire, we were down to 1 last activation each, with my alarm for our our time limit ringing. With only my Big Boss left to activate, I contemplated on two options: 1. Re-activate my Six Shooter then send a load out to Lara; 2. Call for Reinforcement and try to contest the Objective and if lucky enough to get 2nd activation, try to get more points.

I decided the 2nd option was more viable. I got the reinforcement on the first roll. Seeing there are 3 threats, Lara, Ludwig and a single soldier from the Ghost squad, I positioned my Red Devils within close combat range of the armor 2 unit, while still capable of targeting both the Axis medium walker and the enemy Commander.

At first, I wanted to go all out on Lara. Given that I could kill her off and the sole Ghost soldier, Jojo would be left with only the Ludwig to try and claim the Objective. "What the hell!" I thought to myself and instead called to split the 3 Phaser weapons to 2 for Lara and the single one to the walker. My plan didn't work out, as I only managed to roll 1 Hit against Lara. I got to bring down Ludwig with a single die roll, though. Come close combat resolution, the remaining Ghost soldier was successfully taken out but it took one of the Red Devils with him.

As expected, Lara marched forward to try and secure a single Objective from my Red Devils. No Cover available, Lara's twin guns, 2 guys left, what did I expect?

Result

The game ended with Jojo gaining a total of 6 Campaign Points, 3 from controlling 1 Objective at the end of the game, 2 for having his Commander eliminate mine, and the last point from Lara's successful Objective grab during the last turn.

I on the other hand, only got 4 Campaign Points by eliminating a total of 83 worth of Army Points from Jojo's force.

Post Game Assessment

I think I did pretty well in this match, especially on the Battle Builder part. This experience just proves how fun and balanced this game is. Even if you're ahead the entire game, there's still a chance for the opponent to seize victory, and that's what we've loved about Dust.

Here are some of the photos taken from our game, courtesy of one of our resident SSU generals, TJ Sales.